Many years ago, I was in Kaohsiung, Taiwan on a container ship having major steel work done in the  CSBS drydock.  In those days, there was a scrap yard within sight of the drydock and for  the week or so that we were there, I was fascinated watching the LNG ship Benjamin Franklin growing smaller and smaller, as it was cut apart by workers, who at that distance resembled insects.  It was like watching the carcass of a great beast being devoured, as everyday, there was less of the ship, pulled higher up on the ways. I was reminded of this by Dave Shirlaw, on the MarHist list, when he pointed out a video of the scrapping of Navy Oiler USS Savannah by Esco Marine, in an article in Gizmodo – The Destruction of a US Navy Ship As Big As a City Block.  See also Mining a Mega Ship.  Just as ships need shipyards to be born, they also need scrapyards when they can go to die.

Scrapping the Navy Oiler USS Savannah

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